Despite last-minute lobbying by Latvian President, Andris Berzins, the Latvian Saeima (parliament) has rejected another bill that would have made Orthodox Christmas an official non-working public holiday in Latvia.

Late last month (25-Feb-2012), Latvian President, Andris Berzins had announced that he believed that Eastern Orthodox Christmas should be recognized as a public holiday in Latvia.

In past years, the Latvian parliament has twice rejected similar bills to create a new non-working public holiday on January 7 for Orthodox Christmas (01-Dec-2011 and 13-Feb-2009).